Avenger's Rhapsody
by Etsize
Summary: Invasion from the space, rampaging metahumans, and average overflowing crimes: Both Gaia and Alaya are fed up with the apocalyptic parallel possibilities. It is time to prune them.[Rate:M, just for safety.]
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer : I do not own either of the both(Fate series and DC comics).**

 **A/N : It is translation from Korean in to English of 복수자 광시곡. There would be very slow updates, grammar errors and whatnot, for my first language is not** **English** **.**  
 **Point the errors out, I will do my best to correct them.**

* * *

It was the crumpled, twisted video films's playing of the panorama of the memory ─the memory that was previous, current and every one of the between lives' worth information. They were sat heavily into the brain like a stuffed luggage.

Leaving it alone would make Him insane, hence His previous life, Makarov Illuna Atlasia, was awaken glistening with tenacity for Magnum Opus(Salvation of Humanity). Executing Thought Acceleration, he rearranged all of the information. And by doing so he was able to have some spare capacity to execute Memory Partition which formed eight independent thought processes, handling and memorizing the information.

However, it met the impediment at the section of some cause-and-effect. It was the information of 『Death』; even the one of the most brilliant minds in Atlas Temple could not fathom or assay that concept, of course not. But, at the least, it could be stashed away in the one of the independent thought processes.

──"Some unnecessary data must be purged."

The most ruthless director of Atlas Temple's history decided objectively.

Thus memory purge began,  
but….

──"Who are you to say they are unnecessary data?!"

It was not that easy, for the object of the said purge was the information of the current life.

──"Will you return then, to the unfathomable morass of data, decomposed into the random number particles in the Imaginary Number Space?" The director questioned, pointing 『Death』.

The current life faltered.

──"Can you just…, I don't know, throw it away or something?"

──"Unadvisable. It is too critical to purge, for it is the link hub between two of us. You will be perished from the Akashic Records through the chain breakdown effect of cause-and-effect."

──"How about you! If you were…."

──"Impossible. This already is a minimum fragment to perform this task. 'I' was the first to be purged, for this life was yours from the very beginning."

The current life fell silent, speechless. How could he argue with that? It was this… fragment… of a man's consciousness, His previous life, that had sacrificed themselves to preserve Him as best as they could.

Even then He couldn't help but hope there was any other way. His life had been full of the deficiency and hunger for life, love and purpose. He had obtained some of them before His death, but that was short lived just as His life.

He wanted to live.  
He wanted to love.  
He wanted the purpose of life.

All He had now is memory, memories of the family and justice.

──"Suggestion: Purge the useless data and pain from the painful memories." offered The director after some calculations.

──"…huh?" He perked up.

──"This will let you choose the data to purge."

He agreed with consideration.

──"…alright."

The purge started anew.

Pain from the painful memories, including emotional peril: In order that He would not suffer the needless incompetence.  
Cherished people from the cherished memories: In order that He would find them Himself.  
And some personal information, for He would be able to obtain them easily in the world of the living.

So…──

*Click*

Todd, who was ones a Atlasia, returned from the 『』.

A pair of Mystic Eyes of Death Perception shone in the dark coffin. He sliced through the cover, soil, and the grass all by his bare hands.

There was a thunderstorm outside of the grave. Rain drops splashed on his skin and the burial shroud─'a very fancy set of Armani. really, Bruce? …who? Oh, right. I purge that about him. I need to find them later.' mused Todd.─sending jolting pain through his body.

"Oh, Fuck──" cursing up a storm, he moved his hands nimbly again, 'killing' fractures, internal bleeding, enterorrhexis, and infection. After that he felt human except ungodly exhaustion.

He filled up a hole he had crawled out. His eyes turn into normal greenish blue hue when a thought process which packed 『Death』 was sealed.

He sighed.

"Hm…. INTCOL, it is."

From the air full of prana, as if Age of Gods never ended, Jason Peter Todd wrought a thread of Etherlite, leaving his grave.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason Peter Todd Atlasia─which was his True Name when he examined his own spiritrtron─ camouflaged himself with the cloaking illusion and flew through Gotham's night sky. It was Anti-gravity magecraft he used to fly. He ruminated about Superman's flight ability being a kind of gravity manipulation, wondering if it felt just like his own flight.

This stunt of a magecraft would have been the height of inefficiency in his previous life. Had this era of the world's texture been not of the mixture of the Age of the Gods and the Age of the Men, he would have been overwhelmed by the calculation complexity, Thought Acceleration or no. Or by the Od shortage, give or take a few units.

He covered his sensory range within a radius of ten kilometers by using Etherlite and entered Crime Alley without triggering any of Batman's alarm systems. Even though crimes which happened here and there grated his nerves, it was important to grasp himself thoroughly. It was better to know his own Origin, Sorcery Trait and Elements, though, as a alchemist from Atlas Temple, he was not that bound by those factors much, unlike the shallow fools of Clock Tower.

He went into the one of deserted houses in Crime Alley, casting a bound field of human evasion. Before windows and doors were covered by shadows(of which he could move as he will somehow) to hide magical light, he drew the formal craft circle to perform the ritual for the discernment. Cards for the ritual also were wrought and placed in the center of the circle.

He sat down on the dusty floor and stretched his right hand out above the circle.

"Scansio(Rise)─"

The mental image which he was pounced by the gigantic wave of shadow, and his magic circuits were flushed white with prana along with the circle. Had anyone seen it, he or she would have made a great fuss about some will o' the wisp. The light show was the mysteriously frightening thing for common folks' mind to comprehend.

"The ancestor(Keter) is the mage king Solomon. To the descent of the 72 ways, 9 pillars and triangle for Grand Order, this novice(Malkuth) pledges himself to the way to the moonlit world(Yesod). My load is wrought by my life(Od) and kismet(Origin), to the gate, to the kingdom. The soul to the heaven, the pathos for nidana; the goal is the Truth."

He put his hands together like a clapping.

"I practice good by achieving it, destroying evil by practicing it. I will walk on the blade while I breath the flame, bleeding the ice. ──So mote it be."

The light faded. Only a circle shaped scorch mark and the cards were the proof that suggested something happend.

"Compono(Cool down)."

With the mental image which he shot out of the cold water, he switched off the circuits and turned the cards over. All of them were bleached white with the exception of the two that indicated the fire and the hollow.

It made his eyebrows rose. The dual elemental affinity was not that uncommon, but the hollow was surly rare. Even his Sorcery Trait was something unusual. On the fire card, it showed 'Cleansing(掃去).' Another one, the hollow card showed 'Concealment(隱蔽).' It beseems the Executors of the church to use rather than the Alchemist like him. Oh, well, he would find the use for them. After all he was not bad at improvising.

Burning the cards, its ashes was distributed over the circle, and it formed a symbol which showed his Origin.

It was Imperfection.

"Mother fu… Does it act on?"

The director in him helpfully provided the answer : 'No, not yet.' What a relief! He immediately purged the information about his Origin from his brain. He didn't want it to dictate his whole life nor want to be a failure.

Sulking, he wrought a blanket from the worn-out curtain which was abandoned in this dust hole. He was very tired─of course he was. He dug himself out of his own grave─ and in need of beauty sleep.

 **=Avenger's Rhapsody=**

The next day late morning Jason woke up with small satisfaction from the minimum data of himself. Somehow, it was exceedingly pleasant to know something trivial. Even the weather outside was bright and sunny, it's no wonder there was spring in his step.

He burned the blanket on the circle shaped mark to hide his trace. It was time to find about himself. He dyed his hair dirty blond and slouch, swaggering like he own the place. His cloth already looked old and worn-out(courtesy of grave dirt and rainstorm), it was perfect image of an everyday's normal, poor, unemployed gothamite from Crime Alley with his haggard look.

Wondering around Old Gotham district he pick-pocketed some passerby just enough for his mundane work like breakfast or a cup of coffee. While doing so, he did not feel guilt. His birthplace was Crime Alley, his junkie mother sold him out to the Joker for some money before killed by the said clown with him, and now he got the malfunctioning moral compass of the director of Atlas Temple that let him enjoy a rare steak while he committing a human experiment at the same time. Compared to that, pickpocketing was very mild indeed.

By the time he 'jumped' through the imaginary number space to the alley near Clock Tower, his wrought wallet had quite a sum. After enjoying a meal at a restaurant, there were some money remained. So he went to a random tailor to order a set of Atlas uniform with name of Makarov Atlasia by using some compulsion charm to remove disharmony or suspicion from her(the tailor was a woman).

His─Jason Todd's─ personality lived because Makarov sacrificed himself for Jason to be preserved as completely as possible. The Atlas uniform would be a memorial for the director. He planned to make it as best Mystic Codes as he could, though its color scheme was left for debate, for it was too close to that of the Joker's.

By the time Jason went into a internet cafe near Wayne Tower, it was noon. He took a seat in front of a computer with a cup of hot americano in his left hand. Drinking the coffee with bored expression, he seemingly looked like a job seeker.

Except there was the Etherlite which connect to the computer through a USB port, spiritron-hacking.

Thought Acceleration and Memory Partition made his brain outstanding enough to put the Watchtower's computer to shame. But that was his downfall. Because he did not know about himself yet, he did not know he had a wild enthusiasm for information gathering. Because it was too easy, he unconsciously hacked into the database of Watch Tower and Bat-computer's system while slicing through the firewall of them both, tripping alarms.

He overdid it too much.

All it took was 2.78 seconds.

He withdrew Etherlite feinting of swallowing his coffee the wrong way, spilled it on his lap, and bolt out of his seat heading to the restroom. Other people in the cafe looked at him funny way, but that was the point. Nobody would think him strange if he came out late. Or rather never came out. In that case, it would buy the time for his escape.

He camouflaged himself again and flew to the dust hole, emotions rampaging around in his heart and all the information he collected processing.

Batman.  
Bruce Wayne.  
Joker.  
Timothy Jackson Drake.  
Third Robin.  
First Robin.  
Richard John Grayson.  
Babara Gorden.  
Gun.  
Joker.  
Revenge.  
Joker.  
Revenge.  
Joker.  
Revenge.  
Joker.  
Joker.  
Joker.  
Joker.

.  
.

 _CUT_

Alfred Pennyworth.  
Grandfather.

….

Bruce Wayne.  
Batmobile.  
Dad.  
Third Robin.  
Successor.  
Richard John Grayson.  
Apathetic Brother.  
Babara Gorden.  
Batgirl-Oracle.  
James Gordon.  
Good cop.  
Good man.  
Good people.

In the cesspool that is Gotham.

Revenge.  
Revenge.  
Revenge.  
Revenge.

 _CUT_

Jason threw up the blood. Without his knowledge, he already arrived at his hidey-hole and collapsed on the floor, weeping aloud for all kind of emotions.

"I will get rid of the Joker," he gritted his teeth. "along with other evils. I will have the justice, we will have the justice"

There is saying revenge is a dish best served cold. It was true. His revengeful spirit was refined by the thought processes worth of twenty years. He was angry, yes, but not enough to lose all semblance of rationality.

'Power. I need power to hold the advantage and outmaneuver the enemy.'

The director answered promptly at plea for knowledge.

"Phantoms."

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

Personally, I think alchemists of Atlas Temple in Type Moon universe would be rational and calculating sorts. Magi of Clock Tower? They would be cold and calculating, and have no regard of humanity, save a few exceptions.

Well…, at the very least, alchemists of Atlas Temple cared about humanity as a whole. Even their goal is salvation of humanity, not the Root of the world. And Jason had his humanity and would not be Red Hood, though he did not give up his vengeance.


	3. Chapter 3

What is the Phantoms? To answer the question, you have to know the interrelation between the belief and the Legendary Souls, and their concepts.

Legendary Souls, aka Heroic Spirits, are human souls or certain concept themselves that ascend the Throne of Heroes accordant to the belief that is passed down orally or as the history or fairy tale. And the belief is not only that of the religion, but also comprehensive belief which is caused by cognition according to the legend, mythology and history. Even if it were to be the infamy, it is included in the belief as the one is believed to be 'such an evil.'

Usually, when a Legendary Soul is manifested as a servant, the belief functions as the mould to shape the said servant. And the soul and concept itself functions as the core that nucleate prana, enrooting the mould and incarnating the phantasm based on the belief. The more coherent and solid the mould is, the more the prana requirement for manifestation increases along with the output of phantasms. This is why a high class servant, of which reflects only a certain aspect of the Legendary Soul, is difficult to summon.

Even with the texture that is mixture of the Age of the Gods and the Age of the Men, it is difficult to summon a servant. And even a low class Legendary Soul has strong sense of self, thus is headstrong and dangerous.

So, the director recommended to use phantoms. One becomes a phantom when their legend isn't strong or coherent enough to ascend the Throne, or when the object of belief does not exist. Therefore, they are divided into two classification; one that its mould of the belief is inconsistent and insecure; and another is the empty shell that its core, a soul or a concept itself, does not exist. The former is easy for Jason to control, while the latter can be used as the spiritual gear with him being the medium. The prana requiremen of both of them is more economical than the servant summoning.

Jason decided to avoid the former method though if possible because, under Themyscira island, there was the Underworld of the dead, the regime of Hades. Jason did not want to be involved with any of divine spirits. Doing so was guaranteed to be a huge clusterfuck of headache whether one to be a Wonder Woman's patron god(dess) or not.

It did not take long for him to find a suitable phantom for his use. The phantom he chose would be undoubtedly powerful, for it was a product of one of the Legendary Souls, none other than William Shakespeare's: Jeanne d'Arc the Witch. Even though Jeanne d'Arc is a Legendary Soul, the phantom of Jeanne d'Arc the Witch came into existence accordant to the belief that said "Look what she went through! She must have resented Pierre Cochon as well as Charles VII." It is because Jeanne d'Arc is a saint who cannot be tainted or altered, thus the belief become a empty shell.

Jason left on the France flight. The ticket, identification card and passport were cautiously taken care of through spiritron-hacking. He had no illusion of which the Batman, Oracle, and, hell, the Justice League did not notice his intrusion. The fact he was a dead man for the world was only a little solace.

His exact destination was the Seine, Rouen, where Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the stake and thrice disgraced by the repeated stake before her ashes were dumped into the river. Perfect place to summon the fabrication witch.

He unpacked his luggage in his room of the bed and breakfast near the Seine and went sightseeing. When he looked into the leyline around the river, he couldn't help but shook his head in ridiculousness at the state of it. Too much unruly water; that was his diagnosis for it. The river would flood in a year, considering prana had tendency to infiltrate into water.

'It was not supervised or tamed at all! What the fuck are magicians doing, neglecting all this?!'

Well, at the least, he would never have od shortage when he performed the ritual thanks to vast mana in the river. The od consumption for a formalcraft ritual was generally very small because the ritual consumed the mana around its circle. The Od was only used to trigger the spell. Really, it would do a favor for people of Rouen, for it would reduce the scale of the river overflow and prevent casualties.

A bound field was set up to stop any person coming near, the formalcraft circle was drew by Etherlite. When Jason's od peaked, he would be immediately able to execute the modulated ritual of evocation that made himself the medium and master.

"The time of confrontation hath come!  
Raise the rancor out of lapsed time, stand up for the broken ideal!  
Swept away by the spurious purity, the ignominy of the defeated screamed and howled.  
You, the locked resentment and frozen tears,  
it's time for you to stand!"

And the midnight had come.

"Scansio(Rise)!"

Heightened prana lit his all magic circuits, his eyes opened wide to release the sudden heat. He was degenerated into the component of a machine for the magical ceremony, so that he could not see anything even though his eyes opened to the death perception.

"Your action is under my will, and my fate assumes your vengeance.  
If you heed the this call, and obey my will and reason, then answer me.  
I hereby swear.  
That I shall achieve all good in the world with whole my life. That I shall defeat all evil in the world with my whole soul.  
You, the spirit of vengeance who descended from Seventh Heaven.  
Come forth from the circle of binding phantasm, O' raging avenger!"

Jason saw the image of drawbridge falling and heard the rattling of the broken chains. It was the hallucination his brain conjured out of accomplishment. That he did not intend to accomplish.

The door to the truth opened, the wheel of the new reason began to spin.

Atlasia overlooked some factors. He overlooked he was a sole pure magus, ignored the influence of the Age of the Gods, and disregard 『Death』 his brain contained. As a sole magus, he was monopolizing Mystic. The Age of the Gods never ended. And 『Death』 was a part of 『』. He was too close to 『』 not to accomplish a Miracle.

It had been half the year from his death. There was no way his boby did not decay at all. Despite of it, he did not need to 'kill' any decay or autopsy scars. Why?

Because his soul had already stopped recording anything after the death. His soul remembered the information about state of the body only before his death. It meant he already had achieved a part of a miracle when he returned from death. The Deterrent Force, both Gaia and Alaya, did not stopped him and took advantage of it in stead by unloading onto him something more than he intend to shoulder and bound it to his soul.

Thus he reached at the Third truth, Materialization of the soul.

The world shook with the awakening of new order.

"SHIT." cursed Jason.

He promptly fled from the scene, returned to the bed and breakfast and slept.

 **=Avenger's Rhapsody=**

 _《Unknown time and space》_

Corrigan relinquished his role as the Spectre and passed on into Heaven, letting the Spectre Force return whence it came. So, the demon Etrigan seized a chance and tried to trick the Spectre Force into bonding with the rogue angel Asmodel. Asmodel reached out their power to the Spectre Force, giddy with anticipation for Armageddon──

──before it was suddenly snatched away by some unseen magic. Even in his Marble Phantasm, he could not find it. It just… disappeared from the plane of the time, nay of the causality in his Alien Common Sense, leaving reverberation of the ceremonial prana pattern with odor of demonic Od.

The odor was somewhat familiar.

"You…!" Asmodel's eyes glowed with unearthly light in fury.

"You dare… Eligoooooooooooooooooos──!"

 **Avenger's Rhapsody=**

"ATCHOO!"

Next morning while brushing his teeth, Jason sneezed spattering toothpaste foam on the mirror.

'Okay…. I now have some rough ideas how I obtain the Third and what witch phantom can do. But, fuck, why the hell are they changed?'

He knitted his brows, glaring his own eyes as if they offended him in personal level. The iris was red around the black crisscross pupil.

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

Day of Vengeance would not come. That's good, right?  
…Maybe…?

Thanks for follows and all, everyone. As I said in Chapter 1, feel free to point out errors.


	4. Chapter 4

After Examining his own spiritron, Jason had his head in his hands.

 _Class: Avenger_  
 _True Name: Jason Makarov Todd Atlasia_  
 _Gender: Male_  
 _Alignment: Chaotic·Good_  
 _Hidden Attribute: Heaven_

 _[Parameters]_  
 _SRT: A / END: B / AGL: A+ / MP: EX / LUC: E / NP: A+~EX_

 _[Class Skills]_  
 _Avenger: A_  
 _Memory Correction: A_  
 _Self-Replenishment(Mana): EX_

 _[Personal Skills]_  
 _Divinity: A+_  
 _Demonology: E(A+)_  
 _Soul Materializing: EX_  
 _Charisma: A_  
 _Self-Modification: EX_  
 _Revelation: EX_

 _[Noble Phantasm]_  
 _La Grondement du Haine(A+): Anti-Army/Anti-Unit Type_  
 _Avenging Angel(EX): Anti-Evil/Anti-Unit(Self) Type_

Not only did his true name change but also the spiritron had the class pattern. It meant his very soul altered enough to assume the pattern without his notice. The class pattern of a living human did not just appear out of the blue, it presented itself when one's ways of life came to define in certain manners. In his case, his life was practically set as an Avenger. He would be able to live a normal life or a peaceful life; but it would not last long because he will find and see irrationalities, corruptions and injustices, and rebel against them quite spectacularly. In a way it was similar to an Active Origin except it could change when something drastic happened.

Besides, there were skills he shouldn't have obtained, those were _Divinity_ and _Revelation_. _Revelation_ ; This, Jason could say 'Damn!' and roll with it as a bonus of Cultural Sphere and of Recognition even though it being EX rank was questionable. But _Divinity_? It was so outrageously far-fetched to have that he couldn't help but call out bloody bullshit. What he summoned was the phantom of Jeanne d'Arc the witch who committed sacrilege, not Jeanne d'Arc La Pucelle.

So, where the fuck did _Divinity_ come from? Appalled, Jason run the in-depth audit and found the cause.

It was…──

"Wha, why art thou here?!"

The Spirit of Vengeance, Spectre who disappeared after Corrigan's retirement(?) was there, in his one of thought processes.

Of fucking course. Jason could not be anything but an Avenger when fucking Spectre was nesting in his cozy soul, now could he? _Divinity_ and _Revelation_ being EX ranks was just a Spectre's work, for he was the wrath of Presence.

Jason dived down to the mindscape as soon as he found it, there was Spectre in a thought process wearing a green hooded cape and sitting on the some kind of a bundle of wriggling shadow. Looking down at it he seemed bewildered and disbelieving.

Jason cleared his metaphoric throat and cut to the chase.

"Why me?"

Spectre looked up at him and understood immediately what he intended to ask. Why did he chose Jason to be his host?

『"I was about to deny your call, but He willed me to answer."』

Jason was not quite sure what he meant. He? As for He, did Spectre mean Presence itself? And He willed him to answer when Jason did not call out for Spectre at all in the first place?

"I did not call you. You are not what I intended to summon."

『"It was I, _the spirit of vengeance who descended from Seventh Heaven_ , you intended to summoned. I heard your oath; that you shall achieve all good in the world with whole your life; that you shall defeat all evil in the world with your whole soul. I heeded the call, and decided to obey your will and reason."』

Jason face-palmed. Looking back, the invocation of the evocation ceremony was literally targeted at Spectre. Jason should have seen that coming, but no, his mind was too focused on the witch phantom to notice piggybacking Spectre on it.

The wriggling shadow heaved underneath Spectre, who glimpsed at it but let it be. It just wanted to get the attention, and it got the attention from Jason. Bemused, Jason thought it felt familiar yet at the same time… alien(negational) somewhat. It was a complete opposite of Spectre in the Attribute sense and yet Jason found himself drawn to it. It was strange, he did not like it.

He pointed at it and asked.

"What is it?"

『"It is the intelligential non-life which was ruined by the Stained. It is your essence and nature, Eligos."』

It opened its many crimson eyes as a response to the introduction. The iris was red around the black crisscross pupil with an unearthly gleam.

They looked at Jason. There was no malice in them, but rather there was strange sense of camaraderie. Finally, he identified what it is ─ or who it was.

"Makarov…?"

It acknowledged its name by blinking its eyes as one.

Spectre answered the unasked question before Jason asked.

『"It requested to me to repress itself on its own volition. For its self-sacrifice and the guiltless of it own fall, I decide to be lenient with it."』

"You don't seem that bothered about my said nature." Jason tilted his head in uncertainty.

Spectre folded his arms.

『"It is because I reside in your inscape and feel sincerity in the oath you made."』

It was statement, approval and warning wrap in a fact Spectre would watch Jason. Ensuring Human Order as an Atlasia, seeking out vengeance against evil as an Avenger: Spectre could respect both principles of Jason's. Jason was capable of keeping the oath forever in literal mean, for he was the magician of the Third Magic whose soul was impossible to be degraded or distorted. By adding rationality and devotion of the director, he became a perfect host for Spectre.

Yes, Spectre could see why He wanted Jason to be his host. It was certainly better than that blasted, insolent rogue angel who dare try to use His wrath for his bidding.

But….

"…heh, okay," Jason smiled a little, "I try not to disappoint you."

His spiritron projection faded away.

Spectre sighed in resignation.

『"A demon with the Death Perception who holds Spectre Force. I can not fathom why He gives the young one this much power."』

【"It is Alaya's work, not Presence's."】

『"!"』

Hearing that from Eligos Spectre dropped his gaze at the demon, eyes sharp and glaring in warning. But the wrath of God and descended angel could not help but find himself engulfed by a sudden premonition.

Eligos was not like other demons, hell, it was not even a born demon. It had been once a part of system to maintain Human Order the King of Magic had established under the order of the God. Even though the Stained made it become a mere demon, it still had Solomon's Clairvoyance that's even with Him in capability to predict future.

Spectre himself had Clairvoyance, one that views the past. He knew Eligos knew he was able to find out the truth from the past because they met each other's eyes once. The moment when Crrigan become his host, Spectre 'saw' the moment Eligos was forced to fall and vice versa.

Nevertheless, Spectre 'looked' and found Eligos was right. It was Alaya in disguise.

Alaya, the collective unconsciousness of mankind, drive for its survival as a whole and one of two sides of the Deterrent Force which was exclusive and once slumbered, was now wide awake. **In the universe full of dimension-time jumpers, mythic creatures, _Homo Magi and aliens_ _._**

Oh joy.

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

Deterrent Force in DC universe….  
…hmmm….  
Wellllll, it will not be certainly pretty, won't it? *smirk*

Thanks for Views, Reviews, Favs and Fellows, everyone.


	5. Chapter 5

It was around noon when Jason awakened from the trip to his own mindscape. He packed his luggage and check out of room to leave the area altogether. It would not be wise to stay there after Magic happened especially if he was the very reason that happened. Even before he woke up at morning his bound field on the room had repelled several scrying spells already. It was not safe to stay longer.

Jason had planned to return to Gotham if the summoning ritual were not led to Third Magic and Spectre. But now it changed, he decided to depart for London on foot with occasional Hallow Jump, nipping some budding crimes. They really grated his nerves because of _Avenging Angel_ and _Revelation._ _Avenging Angel_ was the refined version of Spectre Force. It detected Evils to punish in passive state and let him transform into Spectre in active state. Adding _Revelation_ , it was practically impossible not to know or not to care what happened around the world. It was as if the world itself was pestering him to solve problems, it felt strangely underwhelming.

The pestering signal was stronger in the countries that was in civil wars and in Gotham.

Gotham happened to do _Gotham_ , it seemed.

Anyway.

Jason did not delude himself into thinking nobody noticed his endeavor to hack into the League network. Moreover, Batman might have suspected the magical shock wave was somehow connected with the hacking, considering Jason's forged ID and the time between two incident. Returning to Gotham was now akin to volunteering to be captured by the world's greatest detective.

In all honest, Jason would prefer Atlas Temple in Egypt than London, but it was not possible for now. Magical shock wave the 3rd magic caused affected all magic users across the world, alarming them greatly. Black Adam, the son of Ozymandias, would be in red alert, thus it would cause strife if Jason were to come close to the African Continent.

He had other plan for Black Adam though. Ever since _Revelation_ was obtained, it had been warning about something so foul and blasphemous that he could not help but became anxious and prepare for crises. It was _Revelation_ that beckoned to him to head to London in the first place, for Jason was not to make Black Adam out of his enemy. Black Adam was needed in the future crises, Jason must prepare to manipulate some events to make him an ally for sake of the world. And London was the ideal place for the plan with its leylines no one tapped.

Once, there had been a move to organize some kind of magical association in Britain when Makarov was a snivelling brat, but the attempt end up the genocide. Back then Homo Magi had been massacring mages who tried to preserve the Mystic. No magus was spared, not even an infant. Alchemists of Atlas Temple were unharmed only thanks to protection God king who ascend to the degree of the divine spirit graciously provided, and for that reason the direct those days assisted him and saved his son's, Teth-Adam's life when Yahweh waged war on Egyptian pantheon and unleash the Spectre on its people.

So yeah, Jason didn't want to fight against the son of the God king, Spectre Force or no ─ actually, no. Especially not with Spectre Force, no thank you. There was no fucking way for Jason to set even a toe on Egypt without feeling agonizing guilty, considering he was an Atlasia. Jason Makarov Todd Atlasia could not afford to make Teth-Adam out of am enemy at all, the debt alchemists of Atlas Temple owed was now solely his to repay. An Atlasia already failed once to protect Teth-Adam from the machination of Shazam. Jason must not fail, he would surely repay the benignity the God king bestowed upon alchemists as the last Atlasia.

Upon arriving in London full of rain and gloom after 5 weeks, Jason in the disguise of tourist tamed the leyline and set cornerstones of bound fields strolling around the British Museum and its near district in day. And in night, he executed Shadow Dive and entered Imaginary Number Space to install the responding cornerstones for the Timeless Grand Temple.

The Timeless Grand Temple: The vast, radiant, magnificent Reality Marble of King Solomon; Workshop he constructed in the Imaginary Number Space for purpose of establishing magecraft that could be preformed by the hands of the common man that previously belonged only to those with connections to the god; And hideout to escape the vigilance of divine spirits that saw magecraft as an insubordination against them and sought out to stop him from establishing it.

A masterpiece Eligos(Makarov) provided from his knowledge that was not belonged to _Demonology_ when Jason was about to make his own workshop.

The moment he appreciated the information he fell in love with the idea instantly. He didn't care about beating Sperctre currently dishing out to Eligos for its reckless provision of knowledge. He wanted the Temple! It was a perfect hideout and place to rest, and he could build the Pseudo-Clairvoyance because Imaginary Number Space was the plane outside of concept of the time-space.

'Wait.' Jason hesitated. 'Why? If it were a perfect hideout as it is and Solomon established magecraft in working order, Alaya should have been awakened long since before me. So, why? Why now?'

He decided to leave it for later examination, he could research after his workshop was finished.

The Timeless Temple would be tremendously useful although it was hard to make, for there were difficult conditions to meet. First and foremost, the builder must be able to enter the Imaginary Number Space. And second, the builder must be able to negate the force high-dimensional beings bring, for high-dimensional beings that inhabit the Imaginary Number Space could determine what fate and future were brought to someone who dared to traverse the Space. Furthermore, Imaginary Number Space functioned in the order that differed from the Reality(Real Number Space) and law of physics had no meaning in there. Thus third, the builder must have means to retain oneself's identity and personality if one were not to decompose into the random number particles forever.

Conveniently, Jason met all conditions: He could meander the Imaginary Number Space, since one of his elements was Hallow; he could negate the high-dimensional beings' influence thanks to the Spectre Force; and he could retain himself through the sheer force of will and calculating objectivity that let him objectify himself to the level of spiritrons.

It spent three months to build a section of the temple. Materials of construction was easy to find in Gobi Desert, the Amazon jungle, abandoned mines and dumping grounds. He just needed some metals and nonmetals, any other things were to be wrought.

Building process was accelerated once a section was completed thanks to peculiarity of Imaginary Number Space. Imaginary Number Space was timeless to the Reality and acted as the bridge among parallel worlds. So he could regulate the time between his workshop and the Reality to a hundredfold maximum, and summoned materials from other worlds.(However, he could not travel to other worlds…yet.) Third Magic also help. He wrought philosopher's stone with his infinite life force and produced golems to work for him.

Though materials like divine bronze, true silver and proper gold were used as if they were mere cement and bricks, they were rare nowadays. He did not know it as they were commonplace when Makarov lived, but he would be in trouble if anyone ever caught wind of it.

After two years at his workshop in Imaginary Number Space and about a week in the Reality perspective, The Timeless Grand Temple was completed.

It was not the end though, it was a start. Jason was engrossed in Magnum Opus while he constructed the temple enough to be impossible to stop to rest. Insignificant but beneficial side-effect of synchronization after purge, Makarov the director would say somewhat proudly.

So it was after five more months in the Imaginary Number Space that Jason stop working. He looked at the photonic crystal in the form of gigantic obelisks that was _Tri-Hermes: the Pseudo-Spiritronic Processor_ , heard melodic hum of _Hermes_ , and saw his familiar _Laplace the cyber-demon_ that resembled Makarov the director for some reason floating around absentmindedly.

'Ah, shit…...'

That was his last thought before he leaned against _Tetra Anax: the Real Numbers Observation Lens_ and passed out from exhaustion.

And he did it again after five days when he finished _Paper Moon: the Bond Compass_.

 **=Avenger's Rhapsody=**

When Jason Zero Sailed to Gotham with Paper Moon, only two weeks went by in Real Numbers Space. His objective was to take Atlas uniform and leave as soon as possible. He really did not want to encounter a certain Bat. He did not disguise himself this time, since his hair color changed, he did not see the need of it.

He went straight to the tailor shop he had ordered.

"I come for Mr. Atlasia's order." Jason cut to the chase and put the tailor under hypnosis.

"Oh!" yawning tailor sprung out of her armchair. "I was waiting for your order. Come, come and see."

She showed him perfect Atlas uniform proudly for his profound satisfaction. The fabric was sturdy and sewed seamlessly. He paid extra hefty sum for her great work and Zero Sailed from near alley that he thought there was no surveillance.

Unknown to him, a new surveillance camera that was set after Magical shock wave spotted his appearance from behind and recorded all, including the scene he was submerged by shadow.

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

He is so busted.*snigger*  
By the by, frankly speaking, this chapter was originally a half of the previous chapter. I split it in half because it is too much for me to translate at once. And the content in this chapter is slightly different to its Korean counterpart. English version is more detailed, I think. Don't know why, the level of difficulty to write and the endeavor to prevent misinterpretation perhaps?

Thank for Reviews, Fav and Follows.


	6. Chapter 6

It was not particularly strange to find Justice League to be in a strange situation. It was, after all, Age of Heroes and Villains as somebody proclaimed. There were so many heroes villains with eccentric personality and quirks that inner workings of the League were never ordinary. Hell, the most ordinary daily ordeal a leaguer went through was the monitor duty which he or she should watch out any strange occurrence world-widely in scientific, magical and inter-dimensional means. But this one strange occurrence was like the calm before the storm, though. Warriors, such as Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and so on, had a feeling of impending war even.

It began in Gotham, the incident that someone or someones unknown had attempted to hack into the Watch Tower's database from its one of internet cafes and succeeded. Bruce Wayne had gone business trip to Washington D.C. when it happened as Timothy remained to maintain security of the computer, investigating the disappearance cases that spread all around Gotham. The firewall was devastated like a snowflake against Heat-vision in less than three seconds even before Tim and everyone of Watch Tower security team from Mister Terrific down registered what's happening. When they were about to respond to it, all information was already copied and transferred to god-knows-where without means to trace the hacker.

What kind of monstrous supercomputer did the hacker use? Who would have that sort of resource and use like this if he or she(or they) did not have a wicked purpose? The incident put whole League on a high alert.

And, as if the world itself confirmed their worries, there was a magical shock wave that's akin to same order of magnitude of H-Bomb from France. Every magic user of the world either fainted or died on the spot from its side effect. Wonder Woman saw it herself as Circe, a goddess, fell under the 'dead' category. Add to this magic in general became limited and was restricted to completely different principle. For example, teleportation and small-scale creation took a toll a lot more than before and the risk increased with distance and quality, bringing the performer to total exhaustion. It was now next to impossible for magicians to teleport around the world except for Dr. Fate, who was in fact the avatar of Lord of Order, and other magicians that got the power from the otherworldly entity through some contract. Even gods did not emerge from this ordeal unscathed, along with devils of Hell. It required more heavy prices of sacrifice amount to souls of a whole state populace if any of them wanted to manifest into the world.

At this, most magicians expressed their negative attitude in mildly disapproving manners. Especially Homo Magis and nonhuman species save Nabu.

"One of Pillars of the Order is now finally restored." said Nabu.

"This is the beginning of the age of tyrannical oppression." was the other's opinions.

When someone asked if there was a way to undo the change in magic, every one of magicians abhorred the very notion of undoing it.

"Oh, you want it? Go ahead. Fordo the world for us."was Constantine's sarcastic remarks.

"There is no way to undo it once Alaya awoke from its slumber. It is as it should be."added Dr. Fate.

He said Alaya(阿羅耶) as if it meant specific thing, and Batman knew what he meant immediately. Alaya, Arayashiki(阿羅耶識) or Eight Consciousnesses; in other words it's the collective unconsciousness of mankind, and it was what caused the magic to be abated and weakened. To undo the change in magic, the mankind was to be extinct. So Batman did not notified the League that he suspected the hacker and the mastermind behind magical shock wave were one and the same. He did not see a point in that at this point, what's done was done. And he preferred not to voice his suspicion until its confirmation.

Instead, he focused on something else. Or should he say, someone? He did not believe in coincidence, especially a coincidence like a certain Swedish librarian's doppelgänger that appeared out of thin air in the identification database of all USA authority right next day of the hacking. That one was spotted by surveillance camera around the Seine before the magical shock wave struck.

It was Oracle who found about the fabricated ID, Laurence Jenkinson of Gotham. Someone who looked exactly like a Swedish librarian took a flight to France, and that was what triggered the alarm the Batman set.

Seeing Jenkinson was fabricated from Gotham, Batman let Robin track him down. Because when the hacker succeeded in getting information of heroes, Tim felt guilty and responsible about failure to stop it even though he was not only one that failed. The security team on the Watch Tower was not a joke, but they could not respond to the hacking fast enough either. It simply was done too fast. Therefore, it was not Tim's fault but, nonetheless, the incident was set heavily in his heart. Batman hoped this small mission help Robin settle his stress. And, of course, it would also help to confirm Batman's suspicion about the connection among the hacker, Jenkinson and the shock wave.

However, there was no indication of the aftermath that's related to stolen information. No attempt to blackmail or something like that. Day by day tension in the League eased out somehow hesitatingly. It seemed Batman had solely focused on Gotham criminal cases since the incident, so other heroes followed the most paranoid hero's example and led the their everyday life.

Oh, how wrong they were. They overlooked that Batman's everyday life was the tangle of constant vigilance and paranoia. He did not let it be; he just knew Jenkinson would show himself in Gotham soon enough. Something that appeared in Gotham had a tendency to return to Gotham whenever it left. It was as if Gotham itself was possessive of anything it gave birth to, including its dirt and insanity, but it was not some sort of a jinx but a statistical guess.

So he waited, tightening and remedying the surveillance network in the city.

It paid off exactly a month after he assigned the small mission to Robin. Oracle called Batman when a pale blond man who was swallowed by literal shadow was captured by the camera that was added as one of the remedies of blind spots. The man's figure matched those of ID record of Jenkinson's and, since the librarian was hard at work at Stockholm Public Library at that time, time stamp on the picture indicated Jenkinson and the Swedish librarian were two different persons. Furthermore, ID record of the librarian differed from Jenkinson's.

Though it was relief to know a hard work citizen with the clean record didn't align himself with identity theft, it made the work more difficult because it meant resemblance between Jenkinson and the librarian could be pure coincidence─in appearance wise at least. From there, Tim enthusiastically obsessively took it over and traced Jenkinson to London for two weeks, inhaling amount of caffeine much to Alfred's dismay.

Aside from the butler's dismay, Tim's endeavor brought out Jenkinson's strange action to the light. Jenkinson traveled to London from the Seine on foot over a span of a week, wandering around the British Museum during the day and disappearing completely from the face of the Earth in the nighttime for about three weeks. And then he was captured by a surveillance camera in Gotham.

Batman kept his silence during Tim's briefing at the cave. It was when Tim gave the report about anomaly in Jenkinson's routine that he voiced his opinion.

"It's magic." deduced Batman, narrowing the eyes with displeasure. White lenses of the cowl gleamed in the light of bat-computer. He seemed oddly tense.

"But magic was degraded ever since the shock wave, Bruce. You said the teleportation is now practically impossible, and that was why the possibility was dismissed before, remember?" Tim tilted his head as he crossed his arms in the seat in front of the computer.

"Indeed. But this," Bruce pointed at the captured picture of the swallowing shadow, "changes it all. He must be a magician with significant power, the calibre of Dr. Fate or close enough to him. He spent too short time to travel to London on foot of all thing, and is capable of teleporting from London to Gotham and vice versa."

"You think he can teleport around the world." Tim stated like it was a question.

Bringing up the new file on the computer screen, Bruce answered.

"I know he can do it and more."

It was police reports about mass arrests of Intergang from central and western Europe. Reading it all quickly, Tim found out the reason Bruce agitated. Witnesses were few and little and all of them was member of the gang, but they sang the same testimony. Pale blond hair and black armor, lurking shadow of a silent bat that tied them and hung them up on the crossbeam with magical wire which dissipated into motes of pale light when nobody cared.

Tim dropped his jaw wide.

"An impostor? That's his work?"

"Not quite, though it shows the training that he went through. And yes, they are his work, the time frame perfectly matched with the time of his disappearance during his travel."

"League of Assassins?"

Bruce shook he head a little.

"Possible, but unlikely. Ra's has no interaction with Intergang as of now."

"It wouldn't hurt to look deeper into them, though."

"Hmm."

Batman scowled at the screen as if it offended him personally. His head throbbed just at the thought of the League conference last week. Not all the Bat lookalike was him. They should have known. Then why the similarity in tactics and method? Fuck if he knew! He was frustrated as much as they were and more, for he was their strategist, counter-machinator and director of security.

"By the way, Bruce, it occurred to me just now that maybe…," Tim cleared his throat, "maybe he is not a villain at the very least, even if he were to be one of them."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, beckoning him to explain more. So Tim continued pointing out.

"See, those police reports, the time Intergang apprehended matched whenever mysterious rescues from crimes occurred around the area he supposed to stay. And there was no attempt to blackmail or threat against the families of heroes so far, either."

"Tt, it doesn't change the danger that he poses."

Tim shrugged.

"Of course not. Just food for thought." he looked right into Bruce's eyes, "He is monstrous enough just as a hacker, I don't fancy the idea making this magic wielding ninja hacker our permanent enemy out of sheer animosity."

'You have that kind of charm about you, so tone it down, please.'was left unsaid, but Bruce heard it anyway. He decided to keep quiet about Aquaman's report that revealed the ominous coast cleansing all over the world by the suspect and his garbage collection that could be materials collection. It was obvious Jenkinson was bidding his time. For what, Batman hadn't know yet.

So he was not surprised when another magical shock wave had come from Stonehenge in the middle of the night.

 **=Avenger's Rhapsody=**

"Scansio(Rise)."

Jason switched on his circuit after checking the ritual circle around Stonehenge, where Merlin infused the essence of a dragon into the infant King Arthur. With the wave of the searing shadow, his circuit glowed alongside the Mystic Code he was wearing with white color.

This time, he was to summon Legendary Souls. _Revelation_ had been sending him the frantic warning since the last visit of Gotham. He was not prepared to return to Gotham, but something sinister and vile was going on the city. Something that even Justice League was ill-equipped to deal with. Something which was crucial for Human Order and fatal to the fate of his family. Eligos in him was practically rattling with the outrage for some reason he didn't know because of the purge before Jason's resurrection.

Prepared or not, Jason must be there in Gotham when the shit hit the fan. He had five years before all hell broke loose, it was not enough time to prepare for the upcoming crisis.

That was if he were to work alone.

"Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill.  
Let each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time.  
Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.  
Raise a wall, against the wind that shall fall. Close the four cardinal gates. Come out from the crown.  
Rotate the three-branched road reaching the Kingdom."

He needed allies. Justice League could be one, but not before the members were screened by him thoroughly in the magical means. Then again, it needed time to persuade them to believe him to be an ally in the first place, the time he was running out of.

So he decided to summon the Servants. They were not only specialists in resolving this kind of crisis, but also the most competent people to work with.

"I shall declare here. Your body shall serve under me. My fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Fate. If you will submit to this will and this reason then answer!"

And _Revelation_ was encouraging it, and that meant the Human Order was quite unstable as it was. Considering Gaia had been eroded since Sephyr Invasion, it was obvious that there were seeds of instability which was planted by the Outsiders in the Deterrent Force System before the awakened Alaya start to eliminate them. Thus, it was safe to assume whatever _Revelation_ was warning about was whatever Alaya couldn't resolve itself without someone like the Granted; who received the extra strength and guide from Alaya, and became a Counter Guardian after their death unless they were to make a legend that surpasses their own strengthened self.

Jason was a exception. He was a magician of a true magic, alchemist that made the preservation of humanity his lifework and Spectre of the time. He had the enough power that it was unnecessary for Alaya to grant the power and would brave the crisis, following the guide of _Revelation_.

That's why there was no better man than him to lead the legendary heroes against enemies within(Beasts) and without(Foreigners). It was why the both sides of the Deterrent Force worked together to survive. There was simply no other way.

"I hereby swear. That I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven. That I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.  
From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, Protectors of the Balance!"

The Ether erupted from the eight spots and swept through Stonehenge. Jason saw eight figures that stood in a circle when his sight returned normal.

Stabbing the point of the sword and putting the hands on the pommel, there, a knight in white armor with the horned helmet had come.  
"Servant Saber, I answer your call."

Spinning the red spear with his hands in silver-white gauntlets, there, a lancer in the blue wool robe with six golden brooches stood in the casual manner. His red eyes sparkled in bright delight, his blue hair was waving in the wind.  
"Great! I'm summoned in the perfect condition! What do you want from this Lance, master?"

With a secured pair of identical golden swords behind the shoulder blades, there, a man glittering with golden color gazed with blazing intensity of scarlet at Jason and crossed his arms.  
"We have come in the mantle of an Archer. Prepare to assist us to end this farce."

Wearing a black tricorn and a red coat with a brown leather belt around the waist, there, a man tipped his hat with the muzzle of a flintlock handgun. He draped the black coat around his shoulders like a cape, the golden epaulette on the coat gleamed under the moonlight.  
"Stonehenge, huh? It's been a while. I'm the Rider. Let's get along well, kid."

Jumping and revolving around Jason, there, a girl with the fox ears and three fox tails smiled charmingly at him. Her blue junihitoe swayed with the wind.  
"Mmmm…...! This redolence of the handsome soul! How can I resist it!? This Caster will serve you, oh my master(hubby)!"

Armed heavily with a black sword, armor and shield, there, a giant stood as if he was there in the first place but non-existent at the same time. A pair of pale lights under the white skull mask with many scratches looked serenely into Jason's soul.  
"Do not fear, Contractor. Servant Assassin, the Old Man of the Mountain hath come forth. I hath nat min name. Call as thou wantest."

Next to Assassin, there was a blurred figure in the black mist. Considering their prana consumption, they must be a Berserker.  
"Shrrrrrr…"

And finally, a holy maiden.  
"I'm Servant Ruler, Jeanne d'Arc. Nice to meet you, little brother!"

Jason blinked at her form of address of him.

"…little brother?"

He and every Servant save Assassin and Berserker looked at Ruler.

The renowned holy maiden was flustered under their deadpan gazes.

"Umm, did I say something wrong…?"

It was Jason who broke the awkward silence by snorting.

"Well, she is not completely wrong."

Everyone understood what he meant when he engaged the Spiritual Gear. With the black armor and flag, he looked like her punky, blackened brother.

Before anyone start to speak, he swung his grey flag, catching everyone's attentions.

"For now, let's move to my workshop. It will be hassle to be exposed by the Heroic Spirit candidates of this age. Introduction can wait."

Extending his shadow, he heaved it up and enveloped all of them.

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

Do you guess who is who?

By the way, Solomon do have his reality marble which is The Grand Temple of Time. It was not just coincidence the name of last Singularity was Solomon. The Grand Temple of Time is his reality marble, Ars Paulina, thus it is Solomon.

Thanks for Reviews, Follows and Fav's!


	7. Chapter 7

It was right before the arrival that Jason felt something amiss. The flow of prana was disturbed in the transfer sequence, snatching two more strays on the way, so to speak. They were certainly deliberate and latched themselves on Saber, the others too felt it. So the second they arrived at the destination, everyone but Saber and Berserker leveled their weapons at the two intruders.

The weeping intruders against Saber that were. One of them was a small boy; another was a woman with a pair of translucent wings.

"Mordred! Oh, Mordred…...!"

The horned helm of Saber was dissembled and became a part of his body armor, revealing a young man with shaggy blond hair and refreshing green eyes. He put his arms around the intruders, bewildered.

"Mo, mother? Modron? How…?"

Sheathing his own sword, Jason waved his left hand for others to follow his semi-relaxation. Archer clicked his tongue and closed the golden gates. Lancer and Caster dispersed their Noble Phantasm, Rider and Assassin stayed their hands for now.

*CLAP!*

Jason readied the offensive magic in the temple by clapping instead. Surprised at the torrent of prana and sound, the woman and boyish girl(and yes, Jason knew Modron was a feminine name) turned around to face him. The whole place hummed in the subtle murderous intent, macabre air crawling up on their flesh. In reality, their souls would be decomposed by curse into oblivion that was the random number particles and leave their body to be his research subjects if they tried ever so much to harm him or his allies directly or indirectly.

"Lady Morgan le Fay, I assume." said Jason lifting a daring eyebrow.

Morgan gave him a courteous bow.

"Aye. I apologize for the rude entrance and greet you, O' magician of the third truth. I am Morgan le Fay, a disgraced owner of the British Isle and mother of your Saber."

She wore a golden mask. her hair was braided like a gache. So Jason could not see her face, but he read the strained tension from her posture. The grace she had about her was not able to stay hidden when she moved even with her violet robe and golden breastplate on the robe. Her prana was of fairies', it made her wings when she did not hide it deliberately.

When she said herself to be disgraced, she didn't seem to feel indignation or suppress it. She seemed… resigned and grieving at the same time, it puzzled him. It was strange to see her like that. It was, after all, Morgan le Fay, the witch who was believed to give birth to Mordred as a tool to dethrone King Arthur. But there was no hidden ferocity or insidiousness. Revelation was quiet, too.

"And this is my daughter and second child, Mordron. She disguised herself as a boy to hide her sex and took her brother's name for safeguarding her true name."

Mordron bowed to Jason.

"Salutation, milord. I thank you for bringing my big brother back even though it was not to benefit us."

The girl's hair had same shade of blond of Mordred. Her tunic and pants were violet like her mother's robe. Her bow was as courteous as mother's, her gratitude was surprisingly genuine as well. It almost made Jason dumbfounded. Almost. He did not forget they were trespassers.

"I can't say I welcome you yet, ladies, but I greet you as the master of this humble abode. I am Jason Atlasia. Now, what intention do you harbor for the trespassing?"

Morgan swallowed hard. She knew she would meet a horrible end along with her daughter if she spoke a wrong word. This place, the temple, was the death trap and fortress, even as it was an unfinished work. His son would not be able to help, for Ruler kept watch on his movement. She could feel it, one wrong move before a sure doom.

Her Marble Phantasm as a fay was too feeble to overlap an unfinished work which seemed to be the half cooked Reality Marble. Who would have known it was possible? Hell, Merlin himself wouldn't believe it unless he saw it himself. Either Atlasia was a powerful mage, or he was a higher being who was developing a Marble Phantasm.

"I assure you we have no ill will. Neither we had intention to trespass on your temple in the first place."

"Mother and I just wanted to meet my brother again. We only follow his soul, the soul that is of the white dragon with tender heart." added Mordron.

Without any indication of what he thought of them, Jason's brain collected any sign of falsehood from the signal the bound field sent: Their breath, heartbeat, Od pulse, Mana resonance and spiritron wavelength of which Laplace was monitoring. It did not take even a nanosecond to conclude they were not lying. It was not Jason they came after, it was Saber. He berated himself after 0.2 seconds of reflection on the careless Zero Sail that lacked basic measure to prevent any interruption or disturbance. He had become lax in the cautious principle. It was unbecoming of an alchemist. Even as a former Robin, he should have known better.

"I see." nodded Jason, "For that I will not punish you, but you are to be confined in the one of guest rooms for now. Laplace will monitor you. After we finish our business, I and Saber will come for you and we will talk. You can stay with Saber after the talk if you answer my questions, or you can leave after some time to catch up with him. Do you accept it?"

"Oh, of course, we accept. I appreciate it." widened her eyes under the mask, Morgan nodded.

"Thank you, milord! How generous of you!" Mordron raised the head, face brightened at that.

Indeed, it was a quite generous offer compared to the general reaction for trespassing the workshop from a magus. They could thank the Batman for his morality.

Jason sent them to a room as he had said with a flick of a finger. One moment they were there, the next they were gone.

He turned around to face heroes.

"Sorry for the delay, everyone. As you heard, I am Jason Makarov Todd Atlasia. I called out for heroes to help me out for emergency of Human Order. Thank you for answering my call, otherwise I'm afraid I can not handle the upcoming storm. But don't be too stiff for the said emergency either. It is rare opportunity to experience the modern era after all. If the world at large were not concern of my family, neither I would be so pressing for greater good of the world. As it is, though there will be some ground rules for our discretion. But rules can wait for now. I would like to know you, befriend you and vice versa."

"Hoh, you are not as dull as we thought. You realize and acknowledge your family, a handful of trivial strangers, is more significant for you than the world. What a pitiful hero you are." smirked Archer crossing his arms, "Be grateful for gracing you with our presence, none other than the king of heroes, Gilgamesh, to guide you through this uphill."

"Of course, Your Majesty." bowed Jason with smile on his face, for he knew Archer was not belittling him. He felt no scorn from the golden king, but slight approval underneath the unsaid remark: 'Then again all humans are just as pathetic.'

Clearing his throat, Saber came forward.

"As you already know, I am Mordred. I know I am infamous for my treason, but it was not all about me." He beat his cuirass with the right hand, "I will prove you, my master, that I am a knight with honor."

"Of that, I have the faith in you as my Servant." nodded Jason, "How history was written for whom by who and all that jazz aside, I pegged you as more complicated case. But since I am raised to be a paranoid son of a bitch, you have to try and maintain the trust we are to build."

Recognizing the chance and warning Jason offered, Saber smiled.

Lancer stepped aside and stood next Saber.

"The name's Cú Chulainn. I'm not picky about order I obey but," he smiled a feral smile, "the harsher the battle is, the merrier."

"Oh, that's a relief." Jason mirrored his smile, "I won't need to find the battlefield for you because powerful enemies will find and challenge us."

"Hah, good then! I'm glad to come."

Suddenly there was Caster who linked her arm in Jason's.

"And here is your good wife, Tamamo no Mae! Nice to meet you, master(hubby)!"

Taken aback by her forwardness, Jason drew back a bit. He couldn't go far because of their linked arms.

"Uh, yes, nice to meet you too…?"

He frowned a little.

'I swear, for a moment, I heard her call me 'hubby'. Have I misheard her?'

Assassin came forward out of nowhere and separated her from Jason.

"That is enough, Magus. Thy display of affection is botherende Contractor."

He dragged the struggling, whining Caster away from Jason effortlessly.

"Ooooohhh, why? How? I am a Caster! I'm supposed to be strong against Assassins!"

Lancer chuckled at her antics.

Jason glanced at him with the raised eyebrows.

"Is she right? Are Casters supposed to be strong against Assassins?"

"Nope." it was Rider who answered, "That lass is exaggerating. Sure, Casters are generally good at detecting Assassins, but that's more matter of who against whom."

He applied a match to his pipe tobacco.

"'Lass' my ass. You are not a Scottish, Rider." snorted Jason.

Smirking Rider blew smoke rings.

"Ah, so you know who I am!"

"There are fucking portraits, you know. And your redcoat with flintlock guns is a dead giveaway, Sir Francis Drake."

"Hehehe. Not bad, kid, not bat at all." Drake grinned at Jason, holding the pipe between the teeth, "When you need works that's too dirty for other worshipful heroes done, bring them to me and consider it done."

Jason looked sharply at him. Rider's grin now had a sharp edge with crooked, knowing glints.

After moments, Jason nodded with a solemn gratitude.

"And that is the Assassin at the Boundary and messenger of the will of Heavens from the pit of the deep valley." Ruler introduced Assassin to Jason in his stead, "He is Hassan-i Sabbah himself."

"That's strange." frowned Jason, "He called himself 'The Old Man of the Mountain' when he was summoned, but The Old Man of the Mountain I know is not Hassan-i Sabbah. It's Rashid ad-Din Sinan."

"You can tell he is truthful however, right?" Ruler smiled faintly.

"Yes, and it gall me to no end." crossing his arms, he frowned more heavily. "I get the feeling whatever prompts me to call you out is in part of his history, not to mention the Order Crisis with Alaya sanctioned red alert."

He sighed.

"Anyway, what about Berserker? I can not discern his true name."

She cringed.

"Sorry, master, I can not see it, too. It seems he has a Noble Phantasm to conceal his identity."

"No need to be sorry about it." shrugged Jason, "It just means we will have a hidden edge against enemies. Berserker, put away your concealing Noble Phantasm for moments."

Berserker did as he was told by dispersing the black mist.

"Oh my, he, he is…..." Ruler breathed in shock, covering her mouth with the hands, "He is Lancelot du lac. Why dose someone like him become a Berserker?"

"What?!" Mordred cried out in disbelieving horror. "What did you say? Lancelot? Did you just call 'Berserker' Lancelot!?"

Saber run up to Berserker, almost shoving past Rider. When he stood right in front of Berserker and removed Berserker's helm, the horror on his face bled to loathing and sorrow.

"Fuck…... It really is you…..."

Saber squeezed his eyes shut, and their was fire of righteous fury in there when he opened them again.

"Oh, why? Why are always you that pay the price of their heartless deed? You don't deserve it! You don't have to suffer in their stead! Damn it, it was not even your fault in the first place!"

Right then and there, looking at Berserker with unseeing eyes and Saber in grieving rage, Jason knew there were severely wrong in the picture, the fatal error in the written legends, histories and even in the mythos. Alaya sanctioned red alert, indeed.

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

Wow, what happened? There was big increase in fav, fel and re. Thanks so much for response!

You are correct about who is who, I applaud you for the erudite knowledge about the Fate lore! Even though I will change some of heroes' stories(be that as it is of Servants or DC heroes) to fit the plot with the Multiverse theory, I endeavor to retain their characters and personalities. So I recommend to do not expect every one of things to be the same with canons.

Corny as shit, you said. Hmm, I admit it sounds Corny, but then again you missed the hint why Jason want to preserve the world. It was mixture of Atlasia's obsession for Magnum Opus and Jason's lingering love for his family. I already implied that Jason is not returned as Jason Peter Todd the dead Robin several times. Change of his true name was not just the change of one's label, it was change of the one's existence and presence. There was not only the appearance of spiritron pattern in Jason(Chapter 4), also fierce overworking on building workshop that was unlike him(Chapter 6).

And Gods in DC universe, they are Divine Spirits alright. Gods did not become Divine Spirits because of the deterioration of the Age of Gods. It was because of Sephyr Invasion in which Sephyr slaughtered Gods and was destroyed by the holy sword of the star(probably Excalibur). Fate/EXTELLA will help you to understand it. So, yeah, Gods in DC universe are Divine Spirits in this stroy.

As for Gaia, Gaia the Deterrent Force and Gaia the Goddess are two different entities. The way I see it, Gaia the Goddess is akin to Tiamat of Sumerian mythos.

Hmm, I hope these settled your doubts and questions. Enjoy your days!


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: This work had been edited.(04/21/2019)**

* * *

Jason proceeded the briefing after Saber calmed down, ordering him to come to the guest room afterwards through master-servant bond. They truly needed the talk, Morgan, Mordred and Jason. The era King Arthur reigned was the final stage of the Age of Gods. A magus should be worried whether there were something wrong in that era or not when Mordred grieved for Lancelot being a Berserker.

"Well, since introductions were made, I let you know about the world of the time. First, about this place."

Jason snapped his fingers. Servants blinked at HUD blueprint of the workshop that floated before their eyes. It showed the regular octagram which had a star of David in the middle of it. It was the dormant information which was given from Jason when they were summoned.

Languages and general knowledge were not problem because Alaya provided them, but details were wholly different case. For example, they knew a car was a means of transportation and how to drive it if she or he had Riding skill. But they would not know the traffic rules, Riding or no.(*)

Thus the details needed to be added. What Jason had done was the manipulation of the provision process. He did not only give them every detailed information he could get, but also made it dormant so that it was offered when needed. Had he not been the magician of the 3rd Magic, it would have been more problematic. After all, it was the manipulation of Legendary Souls in the strict sense of the term.

And it meant Jason could force them to do anything without Commend Spells Ruler had when he willed it even if a servant had high rank Magic Resistance.(**) It was the dominance over souls, that anyone, include Jason himself, did not yet realize─

─except Caster and Archer.

'Uh-oh, it's unexpected.' mused Caster.

'Shall we let him know? Decisions, decisions…...' silently chuckled Archer.

Jason ignored the disturbance in their mind he felt through the bond for explanation.

"This is the Timeless Grand Temple, the workshop of mine and safe house for us that was situated in the Imaginary Number Space. Entry and exit are only possible with permission from me for now. Don't worry, I don't intend to lock you up. I will remedy it."

He highlighted eight spots. Emblems each apex points of the octagram had pulsed in their own light.

On the top of octagram, an emblem of the two cogwheels gleamed grey. A cogwheel lay horizontally and another cogwheel face it like a sun shone upon the altar. The Control Tower that was once reign by considerate Barbatos.

Below its left side, an emblem of the two scrolls shone in gold color. The scrolls were crossed in the shape of X and surrounded by a Ryu(龍). The Intelligence Chamber that was once in the state of energetic silence with kindhearted Flauros.

Under the Intelligence Chamber, an emblem of the lighthouse twinkled in blue light. The Observatory that was once full of scoldings and cheers of susceptible Forneus.

Under the Observatory, an emblem of the smelting flame blazed green. The Blast Furnace that once sang the peace and serenity directed by attentive Naberius.

Below top's right side, an emblem of the shield with a pair of swords and a star twinkled in luminous purple. The swords looked like a pair of angel's wings of the shield with a star hovering over like its halo. The Armory that was once overseen by stoic Halphas.

Under the Armory, an emblem of the lance in the middle of four flowers blazed red. The Satellite that was once gazed by stars and, in return, gazing stars under the commend of philosophic Amon.

Under the Satellite, an emblem of the mountain surrounded by laurels gleamed with the color of brass. The Chamber of Life that was once bustling with all kind of Death and Life that generous Sabnock collected.

And the bottom of the octagram, an emblem of the blazing maelstrom with a octagram core shone with white. The Annulment Pit that was once packed with sad, miserable beings that sympathetic Andromalius consoled.

"Anyway, there were plenty of rooms for you to choose as you can see. You can choose wherever you want to establish your domain as you like at one of these point, but─" Jason snapped his fingers again, snuffing the light of the points. Instead, the Star of David blinked several times. "this axis of the temple we're on is off limit unless the world-ending emergency after this meeting. Questions?"

"You said 'safe house for us' like we should hide from something. What exactly are we alert to?" asked Rider.

"For now? The whole world or, more specifically, Justice League." answered Jason spreading his arms.

With a thought, he signaled _Laplace_ to project the data _Tri-Hermes_ recorded about Justice League. Holograms of major players in the League appeared in front of everyone's sight.

"Though I warn you, they are Not our enemies." continued Jason. "They are the potential ally we are to offer our hands at some point of the time as well as guardians of the Earth who stand against Alien God like Darkseid. But alas, there is much possibility that they have moles among them. Conflict is inevitable, that's certain. Among them, I urge you to avoid him especially."

Batman's hologram remained while others vanished.

"Batman─the World's Greatest Detective, Caped Crusader and Gotham's Dark Knight. He is the core and catalyst of the approaching crisis. I'm not saying this because he is my father figure, but because he's a singularity in the Human Order. Alaya has been desperate to keep him alive even in the slumber and is still desperate after awakening. He's not a magus or spellcaster, and not in the state of Active Origin, I checked. And yet, I could not verify the cause of it. But it seems to be connected to how he possesses Mystic and why."

"If it's true, master, avoidance doesn't like the best curse of action." frowned Ruler. "It would be better for one of us to protect him in secret."

"A valid point, but there lies the problem." sighed Jason. "We can not hide anything from him in Gotham, for it is his land. He's Gotham's living legend, its people's hero and the Owner of the land from the bloodline that traces back to the one of its founding members. The Batman is now the common concept the land and its people share that's built by the Land Owner."

Caster paled visibly after a moment of thought.

"Mikong?!"

"Ow, not so loud!" winced Lancer next to Caster. "Explain it instead, why don't you? "

"Oh, sorry, it's just… master's right." she swished her tails absentmindedly. "If it is as he said, Gotham is practically akin to a Reality Marble that revolves around the legend of the Batman.(***) Furthermore, Batman was recognized world-wide as the World's Greatest Detective and possesses Mystic. The moment one of us protects him in 'secrete,' he will find us and about us no matter what happen or because of what happen."

"Aha!" Saber snapped his fingers. "He is the detective, and we are a bundle of potent Mysteries for him. Of course, the detective will try to find us!"

"Exactly." nodded Jason. "The seconds he recognizes us, the enemy will realize what he is and what we are to do. It wouldn't do to poke a sleeping dragon's reverse scale."

He then vanished all HUD clapping.

"This is it for today. Any other details are dormant and yours to bring up as HUD at will. You can spend time browsing through them or go to _Laplace_ for some entertainment. Come to me for materials if you want to start building the domain. Dismissed!"

 **=Avenger's Rhapsody=**

Jason sank into the armchair in front of the worktable. The worktable was littered with an amount of metalwork. Leaning back to the chair, he lifted up his eyes to the artificial sky. The terminal unit of _Tri-Hermes_ was humming, running a test, and his thought crawled back to the recent memory of the talk he had with Le Fey-s.

 _【"King Arthur, sung as a good and wise king, was not a good and wise one._  
 _Unlike the legend, he was just a tyrant with competence._

 _King Arthur, Welsh Dragon of Britain, was cunning and inhuman._  
 _King Arthur, Slayer of White Dragon, shows his true color after Vortigern._

 _Black Tyrant in the disguise of White King_  
 _the Vicious Bloody Bear, King Arturius."】_

 _Mordron started as if reciting a poem when Jason asked about the truth of Arthurian Legend._

 _【"The king exploited the nobility"】 Mordred frowned slightly as he recalled bad memories. 【"Do not let it blind you from what it caused just because he did not exploit peasants, for, by doing so, the king caused strife among people and dwindling military prowess. He did not make an exception for the upright nobility, ladies with integrity and poor noble men. The exploitation of the nobility was not for the benefit of people of the kingdom either, it was all for his gain and his disguise of a good king. Only Camelot remained bright and affluent, leaving other regions dry and poor. Hundreds in capital lived in luxury while thousands in others were starving to death."】_

 _【"It is all that foolish Merlin's fault! The most famous and successful king maker in history? Ha! He's a duncehead with unnecessarily outstanding magical prowess."】 Morgan's blue eyes shone bright with anger. 【"His reputation had benefited from Arthur's disguise. Do you really think there were such a thing like 'chivalry' at that time of Arthur's childhood? A knight was nothing but a ruffian with shining weapons then. Sir Ector was decent enough to be a decent father figure for him, but never enough to learn the meaning of chivalry from. The bumbling fool that is Merlin just ditched Arthur to Ector's household and never once looked out for him."】_

 _【"Lancelot was one of a few knights who saw through Arthur. But he had not done anything against Arthur because of his die-hard code of honor."】 Mordred crossed his arms with a faraway expression. 【"On the other hand, he had done everything he could to control Arthur's ruthlessness through his position as king's best knight and the lord of Brittany. As the lord of fertile Brittany, he was influential figure in the court of the king because the mainland of the kingdom was suffering from famine for years. And as a knight, he had numerous supporters in military ranks. Arthur couldn't dismiss him if he wanted. It seemed to work, controlling the tyrant─"】_

 _He clenched his fists._

 _【"─until it was revealed that Guinevere had paid for Lancelot's 'insolence' in her best friend's stead."_ _】 Mordron continued instead of him, closed her eyes in misery. 【"_ _When his 'insolence' reached its peak, Arthur decided to punish him by 'revealing' unfaithfulness of the queen. It was also to tie the loose end he made by abusing her, for unbeknownst to any of us, Arthur ruptured her womb through physical abuse. It was an insanity in epic proportions. Lancelot, after finding out the truth, lost his sanity and disappeared for three months. It was brother who found him in the forest near the sacred lake."】_

 _【"And it was the lake I visited Vivian in with my daughter."】 sighed Morgan. 【"When Mordred cried out for my help, Sir Lancelot's mind was beyond my reach to save in its entirety. I had done my best, but his guilt and shame were so vast and deep. Its fragile stability crumbled when the tyrant ordered to burn the queen at stake for her sin."】_

 _【"And then,"】_

 _Morgan projected a picture which Lancelot vacantly looked down a proper woman of blond hair. Her blood on his sword, Arondight, was a sign of the fall of the perfect knight. His mind, alongside his magical energy, was blackening the holy sword of the lake, corrupting it to become a demonic sword._

 _【"everything proceeded as you know,"】 whispered Morgan sadly. 【"except the tyrant's last moment."】_

 _The picture changed into the one of a battlefield._

 _【"Sir Bedivere died in the Battle of Camlann."】 her voice started to gain some volume. 【"Never had he been present at the tyrant's last moment. Never had Excalibur returned to lake. Thus, never had Arthur been able to rest in Avalon."】_

 _【"…...Do you mean to say,"】 gulped Mordred trembling with rage. His eyes were wide with pupil shrinking.【"Mother, do you mean to say 'he' is around in this era? You do, don't you! It's why you are here, not in the Reverse Side of the World."】_

 _【"Yes, brother."】 nodded Mordron. 【"Someone stole Excalibur. And because of it, God Rhongomyniad that was once King Arthur is wandering around the world, plotting something. However, even as one of the guardian faes of King Arthur, mother have not been able to find him."】_

 _【"Huh, now I know the reason I come."】 smirked Mordred a grim smile._

After hearing it, there was no way for Jason to ditch them somewhere else in the world. Just from their story, he found several focal points in the Order Crisis.

One, Merlin. In the Imaginary Number Space, _Tri-Hermes_ could spot and collect the data of the past, present and future of the world through _Tetra Anax_ because Imaginary Number Space was timeless and outside of the Real Numbers World. Thanks to it, Jason found out Merlin's strange behavior. Merlin was not supposed to neglect Arthur Pendragon, and neither was he to foolish to try to maintain the Age of Gods. But he had done it. The Grand Caster had almost demolished the Human Order.

Two, the theft of Excalibur. Even though Arthur was a tyrant, Bedivere should not have died at Camlann. Whenever _Tetra Anax_ tried to spot the thief and the killer of the knight, it was glitching. The death of Bedivere and the theft both seemed deliberate because thief didn't have a chance to take Excalibur if Sir Bedivere was there with Arthur.

Sir Bedivere was ordinary, plain and normal compared to other knights of the round table, sure, but he was way above any other normal knights' level. You just shouldn't think the one of the knights of the round table to be a weakling whether he was 'normal' or not. He was also a man of the Age of Gods, and that alone must say enough, because Men of the Age of Gods were at completely different level in the means of physical prowess compared to Men of the Age of Humans. Under the same conditions(nutritive conditions, family background, training, weapon and etc.), a man of the Age of Gods could beat a platoon of Men of the Age of Humans as if they were a bunch of unruly children.

Anyway, Jason found out whose fault it is for strange behavior of Merlin at the very least.

"Etrigan…...!" Jason gritted his teeth.

The day after Merlin was born, the night after his baptism, Etrigan had done something.

He took something from Merlin.

Something crucial.  
Something critical.

Jason's mind overflowed with fury that's not his.

Fury that Alaya instigated.  
Fury that Eligos encouraged.  
Fury that Spectre answered.

The Spiritual Gear had engaged itself before the cursed holy fire erupted from his very soul. Enveloped in bright green fire, Jason tried to calm himself down. It was not time for fury. Now, he needed cool-head with icy clarity.

Sudden chimes brought it immediately. He looked down the terminal unit that completed the test. The test object was some kind of dead skin piece Archer gave him with terse "It's skin of the snake." before he went away for his place.

But it seemed it was not snake skin. The dead skin was from a primitive man. What was worse, it was of a Homo neanderthalensis. As far as he knew, as far as Makarov knew, only a man had this unique DNA.

Vandal Savage.  
A man before the Genesis.  
A human of the era Deities lived with mortals before they went downward in life of Divine spirits because of Sephyr Invasion.  
A monstrous creature in magical means with Mystic that's more potent than Gilgamesh's.

Incidentally, it was not all that the test result showed.

 _Dielectric substances in foreign origin detected._  
 _Searching for any recorded foreign matters... Found._  
 _ **Warning** : Analogous RNA pattern and substances to Sephyr detected._

"Of all the fucking fuck ups…..." Jason banged his head on the worktable. "A Foreigner, Foreigner before the Genesis. Fuck! No wonder for the Order Crisis! Fuck you, Velber!"

…...He cursed up a storm for whole three hours.

* * *

*: Background knowledge include details servants possessed in the Fate series was provided by Grails or Moon Cell. In this story, information Alaya provided is minimal at best, for there was no Grail. So Jason needed another way to give his servants some much needed knowledge.

**: Originally, Command Spells were not mandatory in the Holy Grail War. Makiri Zorgen created it after disastrous 1st war and adjusted the Grail to giving it to masters. Again, Jason did not have the Grail.

***: I looked up TATARI and Ionioi Hetairoi. But it doesn't mean Gatham 'is' a Reality Marble. It made a very potent Cultural Sphere that is almost Deterrent Force though. It's also a reason why Supervillains of Gotham city usually have the upper hand against Heroes from other cities.  
For short?

The Deterrent Force(Feat. DC Comics' favoritism toward Batman)*snickering*

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

Long time no see, everyone!

I wanted to answer your questions, but [spoiler] about Wonder Woman and unfinished temple.  
As for fights for the Servants against the modern heroes…... well, there'll be some. Nothing fancy though, not yet.

Thank you for Favs, Fels and Revs!

Here's Saber's stats.

* * *

Class: Saber  
Master: Jason Makarov Todd Atlasia  
True Name: Mordred le Fey  
Gender: Male  
Alignment: Chaotic·Good  
Hidden Attribute: Earth

[Parameters]  
SRT: A(B+) / END: A++(A) / AGL: A+(B+) / MP: A(B) / LUC: D / NP: B

[Class Skills]  
Magic Resistance: B  
Riding: B

[Personal Skills]  
Instinct: B  
Mana Burst: A  
Charisma: B(C)

[Noble Phantasm]  
Radiant Royal Sword of Failing Peace(B): Anti-Unit(Self) Type  
Clarent Blood Arthur(A+): Anti-Army Type  
Secret of Pedigree(EX):Anti-Unit(Self) Type

[NP Details]  
 **Clarent : Radiant Royal Sword of Failing Peace(B)** : Anti-Unit(Self) Type

 _It is a treasured sword that has worth equal to, if not, exceeding Caliburn, that amplifies the authority of the king, the "king's royal aura." It thus raises the owner's physical parameters by one rank and grants and raises the rank of the Skill Charisma._

 _When Mordred revealed his pedigree and rebelled against King Arthur, people of the kingdom crowned him as their king and gave this sword to him after they raided the armory of Camelot. As a just, rightful king of his people, Clarent grants its power to him. Thus, when he wields it, it raises the rank of his Charisma and physical parameters by one rank._

 _However, since Mordred is the rebellious king, the sword lost its holy attribute of peace and became a demonic sword when drenched in his father blood._


	9. Chapter 9

It was three years. It took three years for Jason to come Gotham unquestioned.

For three years, he swept the drug cartels from Central and South America. His bored servants helped him cleanse them gladly. It was not easy, though. The cartels either were potentates themselves or colluded with politicians or potentates. If he restricted his action in legal and mundane way, it would need more than decades to accomplish it.

Yes, he finished it. After some espionages, brainwashings, sabotages, assassinations, mass-changeling homunculi, orchestrated manslaughters and a puppet show of a government in the bounded field of the scale of a continent later. Le fey-s were a big help whenever he took in rescuees from the cartels. Their knowledge and experience in medicines, care and protection all but cemented the foothold in the areas. Power vacuum it made filled with interrelated enterprises of Atlasia Group. Central and South America were now the clean area of the drug cartels.

It was also when servants found out the length his overworking tendency will go if unchecked. He didn't rest unless either forced or ambushed to do so.

Even Assassin, who detested idleness the most, was appalled by his action full of schedules. More often than not, he had to sneak up on and behead Jason, then let him resurrect himself. Or Morgan dosed his water with tasteless, scentless anesthetic just to make him rest sometimes.

Any other servants could not help them make Jason rest. Because of the dominance over souls of the 3rd Magic, Jason involuntarily forced them to stop making him rest the moment he knew one of them tried. Added to that, _Revelation_ made the work well-nigh impossible. His homunculi servants in the Timeless Temple were not excluded from the influence. His tremendous willpower was harmful to himself in this case.

Thus, Jason had to be dosed or assassinated then resurrect. But he didn't mind it while he was in the frenzy of overwork. He had done 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' in its literal meaning. But truth was, it was necessary for him to overwork. The workload was ridiculously great. To say it was hectic three years was an understatement.

(When he broke out of the frenzy, Caster told him about the dominance. Even though he had not known it, he thought he owed them so much apology for forcing their hands to stop him.)

Now, he came back to Gotham as the president and owner of Atlasia Group, a blind albino young man whose name was Renato Atlasia. He was not actually blind though, of course not. While he made himself a temporary blind man, he could 'see' around him with spiritron vibration that caused mana resonance.

When he got out of the limo, his appearance sure made an impression with the white cane which was actually a mystic code and the black tinted goggle which looked like a protective goggle. Combined with white suits and gloves, the albino man was so white it made others' eyes hurt. Bodyguards in white didn't help either. Only saving graces were the black goggle and the sunglasses the bodyguards wore were.

It was Gotham's rare sunny day, though the most of the sunshine was obscured from the land by tall close-packed buildings. Facing a mass of reporters, Jason found himself brooding over wretchedness oozing out of the city. He had to stamp down antipathy toward the wretchedness.

'Oh, Alaya damn it!'

He knew, he just knew his mortal enemy was the root of all foulness he had felt since the last visit here. Gritting the teeth, Jason ignored reporters and walked away from them. There was no need to answer any of them for now. The speech he came to give at the opening ceremony of Green Oberon would be enough for them. His unseeing, cloudy red eyes behind the goggle glinted angrily.

 **= Avenger's Rhapsody =**

The Batcave at sunset that day, Bruce had been studying Green Oberon's building planning while Tim briefed him about the company and its president. At some point of the briefing, Richard who received call from Tim came to join them.

"──To summarize, it is a green technology company." finished Tim.

"Well," Richard put his hands on his waist, "it seems normal enough."

"How sure are we on 'normal' part?" asked Bruce closing the building planning from the computer screen and open a file about Renato Atlasia.

Richard shrugged shoulders. The answer was obvious: Not so much.

The Atlasia's emergence from Central and South America was abrupt and unexpected. There had been no sign at all that someone like Renato had made a move against cartels. A blind albino man who opposed drug cartels was not supposed to be inconspicuous. But he had been and succeeded in looting out them in the span of less than three years. A perfect, proper Shock and Awe for everyone in the know and connection, that's what it was. No one knew him or about him until it's too late.

The cartels' elimination was strange itself because nobody had known and everyone, including Superman, had been blindsided by it. There were no sounds of gunshots, no scream or no sound of canon fire. And yet, the sites of the elimination were littered with the wreckage of tanks, concrete debris, bullets, blood and scorch marks.

Bruce didn't pay attention at first when he heard of the scheduled mop-up operation from the morning news three years before, thinking it was an electoral commitment. It was the dwindling drug deals and the mobs who were frantic because of the lack of drug supplies that made him investigated the case.

And the result was it: There were no sounds of gunshots, no scream or no sound of canon fire. The cartels got massacred one day out of the blue and their victims were rescued by the soldiers and officers. It was the Atlasia which resolved the crisis the elimination left behind ─ The Atlasia which all the governments of Central and South America answered to from some point of the time.

How was that possible while nobody suspected a thing, Bruce had no idea. All traces went cold and clues were long gone. No witnesses had a recollection of the incident.

The Atlasia's emergence was as abrupt and unexpected as the elimination. Perhaps, it could be natural for the Atlasia to hide themselves until the moment of the victory due to the vindictiveness the cartels were infamous for. It was also true, however, that it was hard to see them unrelated, the Atlasia and the elimination. It was too smooth of a transition from the cartels to the Atlasia.

'Renato Atlasia…...' narrowed his eyes, Richard read the file and rubbed his jaw with the left hand. 'He's quite a suspicious man with the suspicious circumstances, there's no doubt. However, what concerns me is his seeming lack of malice in the action whether he was to be the mastermind behind all or not.'

He looked at his mentor worriedly.

'It's the kind of oxymoron which will rile up Bruce so much that he would not handle it well. Paranoia of his would not let him. Tim was right to be wary of it and call me.'

Tim saw him nodded his head and smiled, and nodded back feeling relieved. He could not bear with Bruce on high paranoia because he called him wrong name whenever he was high-strung. It hurt to hear Bruce call him 'Jason'. He knew Bruce did not mean to hurt him, but it was hard to stand it sometimes. He was overlooked too many times to stomach it.

"It's also true we have no ground to interrogate him, though." Tim rebutted Bruce's statement. "The building planning has nothing for us to see, Atlasia's record is squeaky clean even as he carries out the blood feud with cartels, and he is adored and worshiped by people of South America so much that it will cause some national issues when he makes our interference out of a problem."

His shoulders drooped.

"Ugh! If only we dealt with the disappearance case…..."

Yes, that bloody disappearance case. Bruce and Tim have spent three fucking years on that case but could not solve it. They discovered a pattern of the disappearance very long time ago, sure, but it didn't mean a thing if they could not stop it occurring.

Tabloids of Gotham started to call it 'Disappearing Pandemic' after the first report two and a half years ago when they found out the disappearance because the pattern was similar to a pandemic. And it meant its range and scale became wider and larger as time went on. If a person disappeared one day, anyone who had been in their vicinity would vanish following day or the next. For example, shortly after the first report about the disappearance by Vicki Vale who interviewed a wife of a missing man, she too disappeared after the wife have vanished.

People had gone ballistic when the news of which inmates of Arkham Asylum were not spared from the disappearance came out, blaming GCPD and the Batman for their laziness and abandonment.

It's quite an excessive response even for Gotham standard. Some people had speculated a conspiracy theory which said Villains were behind all those disappearances. Another people had waited silently believing heroes to find a solution. A few people had embraced the metaphor of 'Disappearing Pandemic' in its literal meaning and cleansed their own bodies and house to the near degree of mysophobia. It's understandable, considering the number of missing that reached almost a hundred thousand by the time Vale disappeared.

It had been also what tipped the alarm in the Batman's head because the scale of disappearance was greater than what he had discovered so far.

The homeless, the old who was not strange to find them died of old age, the beggars and the smalltime thugs…...  
Gradually but surly quietening streets of night time Gotham.

'I should have known. I should have known! **I must have known! What's wrong with me?!**' Bruce had silently panicked reading the paper, for he didn't feel unfamiliar with it. Running down to the cave and powering the Bat-computer up, he found out a case file about the disappearance that had been left alone for weeks without even a log of which indicate it had been once read. He had been compromised all along!

The situation in Gotham was so serious already that Bruce had to ask for The league's help. Independence and distance were not worth enough to endanger more lives. It needed to be dealt with swiftly, especially someone or something compromised his mind and Robin's.

It didn't help to solve the case, though.

Zatana, bless her good heart, almost died out of the Black Death trying to help him trace the cause of disappearance. He had no idea where the plague had come from, but from what Zatana found out before she collapsed, there was a culprit behind the case. And the culprit was capable of performing a magic of which kind she didn't know of existence and cursed her the Black Death for her meddling.

Of all the bloody case, magic! Oh, how Bruce hated magic. It's unruly and unstable. Its chaotic tendency was tamed after the shock wave, but it didn't mean it became safe. He is an old friend of Zatana, he knew magic to a certain extent and hated it for forcing its peril and danger on his dear friend just because of what she was. He regretted to ask her magical help.

Clark's help was off the table because since Kryptonians were vulnerable to magic, he would be an easy target for the culprit. John Constantine, who came with Zatana for some reason he wouldn't tell, went missing. Palmer became busy searching for the cure for the magical disease. Green Lantern's ring could not get a clear read about Gotham in general because the thick veil of magic on the city was interfering in it. It seemed helpless.

And all of a sudden, it stopped. It just stopped when the Green Oberon came Gotham. Furthermore, missing men and women started to reappear left and right since the day Renato Atlasia declared that he will stay in Gotham for months. Coincidence? It could be. But any of the heroes wouldn't put it past Renato to have a clue about all the mess.

"Don't forget the Saint Dumas' mess murder case." Bruce reminded Tim.

"Yeah, as if I can get it out of my mind."muttered Tim.

There was a mess murder in the Saint Dumas Church in Old Gotham section. All the victims were beheaded, priests and believer alike. The church was burned down to a crisp by huge dark blue fire in the middle of the night, which impossibly didn't burn any other things including heads and bodies. The case leaked magic vibe, creepy fire and foreboding displays.

What's there to link the case to Green Oberon? Well, it was Renato's personal secretary Beni who reported the fire to the emergency services. Nobody saw the fire except her, and she claimed she didn't remember going to the church. Considering Benzodiazepine was in her bloodstream, the police suspected the murder was a vigilante's work. Why they murdered whole church people was anyone's guess.

The case was closed there. Just like that, the investigation stopped. When Batman confronted Commissioner Gordon about it, he had no idea whatsoever.

"What are you talking about? Fire? What fire?"was confused Jim's exact word. No news papers printed about the church, no record of the report remained in the database of the emergency services, and the secretary left Gotham early in the morning.

It's fishy. Too fishy and obvious. The Atlasia was practically waving the red flag in the hero's face.

A siren suddenly blared.

"It looked like we don't have time to look into the Atlasia today. It's Port Adams, Riddler's on the move."said Bruce going to Batmobile, followed by Nightwing and Robin.

 **= Avenger's Rhapsody =**

Shortly after heroes had left, Alfred entered the cave. His hand was on the forehead, his step was tottering. He was sweating with glaze eyes.

"Master Bruce, I… "

["Long time no see."]

The voice sounded like it's right next to him. But Alfred's gaze snapped upwards without hesitation.

One of the bats in the cave was looking down at him, its eyes blazing red.

And it smelled familiar to him.

"Oh, dear…..." murmured Alfred before all the lights were out all together.

* * *

 **[Postscript]**

This chapter was practically a remake compared to the counterpart. Oh well, I'm satisfied nonetheless.

As for Gilgamesh and Nabu, I will address their relations in all good time. The prologue doesn't end yet.

Thank you for Favs, Fels and Revs!

Here's the Assassin's stats

* * *

Class: Assassin  
Master: Jason Makarov Todd Atlasia  
True Name: Hassan-i Sabbah  
Gender: Male  
Alignment: Lawful·Evil  
Hidden Attribute: Human

[Parameters]  
SRT: A / END: A / AGL: B+ / MP: E / LUC: E+ / NP: A

[Class Skills]  
Presence Concealment: A(EX)  
Magic Resistance: B  
Independent Action: B+

[Personal Skills]  
Battle Continuation: EX  
Protection of the Faith: A+++  
Evening Bell: EX  
Natural Body: C(A)  
Uncrowned Martial Arts: -  
At The Boundary: EX

[Noble Phantasm]  
Azrael(A): Anti-Unit Type


End file.
